IN EGYPT
Expedition to Egypt—We take possession of Alexandria—Entrapped by the
enemy at Rosetta—A trying retreat
IN March, 1807, we embarked as part of an expedition from Sicily under
General McKenzie Fraser, destined for Egypt. We sailed from Syracuse on
the 7th, arrived at Aboukir Bay about the middle of the same month, and
found there a large fleet of our men-of-war and a numerous fleet of
transports with the other troops of our expedition. The object of our
force was to create a diversion in favour of Russia against the Turkish
army in that country.
On the following morning all our light men-of-war and gunboats took up
their stations as near the landing-place as the depth of the water would
permit. The first division of our troops were at the same time ordered
into the different ships’ launches and towed by the smaller boats to the
shore, a distance of at least four miles; but the weather was unusually
fine. A considerable body of the enemy appeared on the sand-hill above
the landing-place, but our gun-brig and gunboats soon dispersed them,
and we landed without difficulty, except a good wetting as far as the
knee, for the water was shallow and our boats could not get nearer than
a few yards from the beach. The remainder of the troops followed in the
course of the day, and landed with the same success and safety, and next
morning the stores, camp equipage, and guns were landed without
accident. The usual advance guard was pushed forward, and the remainder
of the troops followed in divisions, the enemy’s advanced posts retiring
before us, and that evening we camped, without any covering, on the dry
sand, about six miles inland. Some of the enemy’s cavalry were visible,
but only in small numbers to watch our movements.
Next day we commenced our march for Alexandria, with very little
interruption, beyond occasionally seeing large detachments of Turkish
cavalry, with which our advanced guards and videttes exchanged shots and
some volleys occasionally. Our advance to Alexandria continued much in
the same way for a few days; we had fine weather and hot sands for our
beds, with which we covered ourselves over. We felt well and slept very
comfortably, and it was not till we arrived before the walls of the town
that the enemy appeared in force and attempted to dispute our advance,
but after a partial action and the loss of a few men killed and wounded
we soon drove them before us and forced them to take shelter behind the
walls of the town, and soon after the firing ceased on both sides for
that day. We camped as before, beyond the walls of the old town, with
our advanced piquets posted, and all other necessary precautions. It was
found next morning that the enemy had evacuated the city of Alexandria
during the night, and we then took formal possession, keeping most of
our troops still in camp.
A force of about twelve hundred men was now told off and detached under
Brigadier-General Wauchope to proceed against the town of Rosetta, on
the Nile. They arrived before that place in twelve days, in safety. The
general marched his men right into the centre of the town without any
opposition, not even seeing an enemy, but then, being entrapped, a heavy
fire was opened upon him from the tops of the houses and windows,
without even the power of returning a shot. Death and confusion
followed. General Wauchope was amongst the first who fell dead, and in a
few minutes nearly all his detachment were either killed or wounded, and
those who escaped for the moment were made prisoners and with the
wounded put to death, so that only a few escaped altogether, and these
found their way back to Alexandria to tell the sad and murderous tale.
This barbarous and butchering defeat required to be avenged, and a
second force of about eighteen hundred men, under Major-General Sir W.
Stewart, was told off for this service, in which my regiment, the 78th,
was included. We marched from Alexandria late in March and arrived
before Rosetta on the 7th of April, and on getting into position before
the town the first thing we saw was the dead and mutilated bodies of
hundreds of the former force. They were, of course, at once buried, and
vengeance was the prevailing cry and feeling of the living. The late
Field-Marshal Sir John Burgoyne was then a captain and our chief
engineer. He at once began to throw up breastworks and other temporary
defences for our guns and for the troops, these being partly completed
by the next day. Some of our heavy ordnance were in battery, and
commenced at once to shell the town; at the same time the enemy opened a
heavy fire of artillery upon us, which was continued by both sides until
dark. Rosetta is a walled town, known then to be strongly fortified. Our
works were continued day and night, and additional guns got into
position, until all were mounted and brought to bear on the town. The
only visible good effect our cannonade produced was the cutting in two
and upsetting of many lofty minarets of the mosques; we never heard the
extent of their losses, but as Rosetta was full of troops and
inhabitants, their casualties must have been very considerable. All our
efforts failed to make any practicable breach in the walls, therefore no
regular assault was attempted. Almost every evening the enemy sallied
forth in large detachments of cavalry and infantry to attack our advance
posts and picquets, but our troops of dragoons (ever on the watch) soon
met them, and generally dispersed them; but they never gave us a fair
chance, for they usually galloped off and got back to their stronghold
just as we had an opportunity of destroying them.
Ten days after we commenced this siege, our good, gallant Colonel
McLeod, of the 78th, was detached with five hundred men for El-Hamed,
some 50 miles higher up the Nile, to check any reinforcements or
surprise by additional troops coming down the Nile from Cairo to
Rosetta, and our own main body continued the siege much in the same
daily routine for a fortnight longer, but still unfortunately without
any success in making a practicable breach in the outer walls so as to
give us a fair chance of assault. All this time we were losing many
brave men. It was then finally determined to raise the siege as
hopeless, and to return to Alexandria. Orders to this effect were sent
to Colonel McLeod, with instructions to meet us on a given day and hour
at Lake Etcho; therefore, during the night of the 20th of April our
batteries were dismantled and all our heavy guns spiked and buried
deeply in the sand.
On the morning of the 21st our troops were under arms and formed into a
hollow square, with a few pieces of light artillery and ammunition and
stores in the centre. In this way we commenced our retreat for Lake
Etcho. We had scarcely moved off when our square was surrounded by
thousands of Turkish cavalry and infantry, howling, screaming, and
galloping like savages around us, at the same time firing at us from
their long muskets, but fortunately with comparatively little loss to
us. We occasionally halted our square, wheeled back a section, and gave
them a few rounds of shot and shell from our artillery, then moved on in
the same good order. This was a long and trying day, and the only
retreat in square I ever saw. It occupied us nearly twelve hours, from
five in the morning till the same hour in the evening. The enemy, with
fearful shouts, followed us, firing the whole of that time, but they
never showed any positive determination to charge or to break our
square. We were not so delicate with them, for we gave them many rounds
from our guns, and when they ventured sufficiently near they were sure
of more volleys than one, and we had the satisfaction of seeing numbers
of them fall. We had few men killed, who were unavoidably left behind,
but we were able to carry away our wounded.
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